


Infinity, and Beyond

by Awesomecake



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Families of Choice, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Second Chances, Talking To Dead People
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-28 22:18:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10840602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesomecake/pseuds/Awesomecake
Summary: A near-death experience gives Peter a second chance to say goodbye to his parents.(MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2)





	Infinity, and Beyond

It was supposed to be a simple job, just a matter of taking back a Blivian freighter from a bunch of crusty Nurph pirates, no biggie. But the Nurph left a freaking Lasher behind when they ditched their stolen ship, and suddenly nothing was simple any more. 

The Lasher was black like the void between the stars, covered in an iridescent ooze that splattered all over the place as it used its whip-like tentacles to propel itself forward, hunting the Guardians through the gigantic cargo hold. It pulsed with electromagnetic power, disabling their gear and plunging them into a darkness broken only by the emergency chemlights they carried. They had no weapons that could harm it, and its reach was so great that it had no problem getting them separated from each other, forcing them down different paths in the labyrinth of towering shelves and house-sized containers.

Peter dodged a smattering volley of ooze and found himself alone, running down a narrow gap between shelves. There was no plan. They didn’t have the firepower to kill or even injure the Lasher, and they couldn't just blow up the ship ‘cause then the Blivians would kill them. The only thing Peter could think of was to do a Ripley and blast it out of the airlock, but he had no idea where the nearest airlock even was. Or where his crew where. Or where _he_ was, for that matter.

He stopped, listening hard. He could hear shouts and running footsteps echoing through the hold, but they were all too far away. He tucked the chemlight into an inside pocket, hoping that he'd remain undetected by the Lasher for long enough to catch his breath, and think of a way out of this mess. 

Something wet dripped on his cheek, and he wiped it away without thinking - but then he noticed the faint rainbow glow of the liquid.

“Oh SHI-!”

The Lasher's tentacles wrapped around his head and torso, pinning his arms to his sides and hoisting him up in the air. There was nothing he could do to fight it, and when he tried to yell he received a mouthful of ooze that almost drowned him on the spot. It was cold, and as it slid down his throat he felt himself going still, even though he wanted to keep fighting. The Lasher pulled him up to the top of the shelf and wrapped him up completely, and he could feel the ooze starting to seep into his skin. 

The faint rainbow shimmer filled his vision, and slowly, steadily it grew brighter. His body faded away, his grasp on reality slipped until he felt like he was Somewhere Else.

He was standing? floating? in a white space without gravity. The air? aether? void? was pleasantly warm, and there was a soft, opalescent quality to the light, which was coming from every direction as once. 

He knew that he was being killed by the Lasher, but there was nothing he could do about it, and he realised that he wasn't afraid. A bit sad, perhaps, to leave his friends, but he had seen people die in many horrible ways, and all things considered this wasn't so bad.

“Peter?” 

He knew that voice, even though he hadn't heard it for almost thirty-six years. He turned around, and there she was.

“Mom!” 

She was wearing a white, shimmering dress, and her long, golden hair was floating like she was under water. She opened her arms to him and he leapt to her, picking her up and spinning around, both of them laughing and crying at the same time. He could feel her breath on his cheek, the beating of her heart through his chest. She was really there, and she was _alive_ , healthy and smiling like she hadn't been for the last three years of his life on Earth.

“I've missed you, mom,” he sobbed into her shoulder, “I've missed you so much.” 

“I know, Peter. I've missed you too. How are you holding up?” Meredith took a step back and looked him over.

“I'm - well, I'm probably dying right now, but it's been good. Great, even. I left Earth the same day that you - the same day as you, and it took a while, but I found a family. They're awesome, you'd love them.”

“That’s great, I'm so happy for you. And I look forward to meeting your family, some day. Did you find your father?”

“Umm, yeeah, about him…”

“He wasn't who he said he was, was he?”

“No. I'm sorry, but he was - he was making babies all over the place, just to get one who could help him take over the universe.”

“That _asshole_! You know, I've had plenty of time to think about everything he ever said to me, and I realised that not much of what he said or did rang true, in hindsight.”

“When I met him - it was only like six months ago, which is good 'cause if he'd gotten to me as a kid I'd be dead, or worse - but when I met him I wanted to believe, more than anything. I wanted him to be the dad I'd seen other kids having, back on Earth. And he pretended to be that, for a while, but then he told me that he put the tumour in your head and… I killed him.”

“Oh, _Peter_. I kick myself for falling for his hogwash, but I wouldn't have it undone, 'cause then there wouldn't be no you. And you're the best thing that ever happened to me, you know that, right? But you gotta tell me, if you didn't meet Ego until just now, who was it that raised you?”

“It was me who done that. Though I can't say I was stellar at it.” 

Peter whipped around, and there was Yondu, as blue as ever, but in white and pale gold Ravager garb instead of red and black, and with a bright copper fin on his head. All his scars had gone away, and the effect was slightly disconcerting. It made him look almost fully respectable.

“You all right, boy?” 

Peter didn't answer, he just went straight for a hug. Yondu hesitated for a moment, then he wrapped his arms around Peter in a tighter embrace than he'd ever dared to give him when he was alive. 

“You stupid - stupid _smurf_! Why'd you have to go and die like that for, huh? Why?!”

“You think I'd be able to live with myself if I'd let you die? I knew only one of us was going to make it, and it sure as hell weren't gonna be me. Now are you going to stop blubbering and introduce me to this pretty lady here or not?”

“Ok, ok…” Peter took a deep breath, and stepped back so that he could gesture between Yondu and Meredith. 

“Yondu, this is Meredith Quill, my mother. Mom, this is Yondu Udonta. He was meant to deliver me to Ego, but he didn't. Instead he raised me, and taught me everything I've needed to know to save the galaxy, twice.”

“Aw shoot, you make me sound almost decent. How’d you do, Mama Quill?” 

Peter felt like his head or possibly his heart was going to explode as Yondu took Meredith's hand, bowed down, and kissed it. 

“Well, I can't say I've ever met a blue man before, but I'm grateful that you raised my son instead of handing him over to his prick of a father. And it seems to me that you did a pretty good job, too.”

“Yeah, he did -”

“Don't you lie, boy. I didn't.” Yondu stepped back and stared at his boots, suddenly looking as hesitant and close to tears as Peter had ever seen him. “I raised you to be a Ravager. I raised you to be a thief, and a killer. By the time I realised I didn't want that for you it was too late to start acting like you weren't just another one of the crew, and I had to rely on you being able to talk your way out of trouble when the guys thought I should be teaching you a lesson. You survived because of who you are, because of who your mother made you. Not because I'm any kind of even halfway decent father figure.” 

“Well how in the hell were supposed to do any better than you did? It's not like you got any firsthand experience in how good parenting works! You kept me alive, you kept me away from Ego, and you taught me how to survive on my own. You know that's what I was planning on doing, right? When I first stole that orb on Morag? You may have raised me as a Ravager, but you always made sure I knew there were other options, that I could go and be whatever I wanted to be. And you always came through for me whenever I needed it the most. You don't get to say you weren't my dad because you _were_ , Yondu. You were.”

“I tried…”

“You did good. I promise you, you did good.”

“Mr Udonta, I gotta be honest; you probably wouldn't have been my first choice for Peter's adoptive father, but it seems like you were the best option available, especially since it sounds like there were many ways in which my boy could've wound up dead a long time ago, and I can tell you did what you could to keep my son safe. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

Yondu’s ears turned cobalt blue when Meredith pulled him into a quick hug, and Peter couldn't stop himself from bouncing like a little kid. 

“This is great! I'm so glad you two get along, I've always wondered what it'd be like to have you both in the same place, though I gotta admit that much of the time I pictured mom punching you in the face, Yondu.”

“HA! Well I've certainly earned it! And it'll probably still happen, when I tell her all the shenanigans we got up to when you was a youngin.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Oh, oh! Like that time on Glim Gollo, with the goat lizard!” 

“Well, I'll sure be looking forward to hearing that story when you get back,” said Meredith, and Peter suddenly noticed that she was starting to fade around the edges. 

“What? Mom? What's happening? Where am I going?”

“It ain't your time yet, boy.”

“We'll meet again, Peter, but this time someone's figured out how to keep you alive.”

Peter reached for his parents, but they were suddenly too far away, fading into the light as he was being pulled backwards, into darkness.

“I don't want to go, please, mom? Let me stay a bit longer, just a bit, I - Mom? Dad? I love you! I love you I love you I love -”

_SMACK!_

Rocket’s tiny but ridiculously strong paw slapped him on the cheek, and Peter woke up, coughing and retching. 

“I know I'm a role model but I sure ain't your dad, Quill. Get up, the Blivians are coming.”

“Rocket? What happened? Where was I?”

“Mantis put the Lasher to sleep, which was very lucky for you, ‘cause you fell out of the tentacles just before Drax tossed it out of the airlock.”

“...Oh, yeah. The Lasher.”

“I know you to be reckless, but I didn't think even you were stupid enough to get yourself caught by a Lasher.”

“Yes, Drax, I know. So foolish, ha ha. I won't do it again.”

“You'd better not!” Gamora came bounding down from a walkway high above the cargo hold floor, where she'd found the control panel to open a loading hatch, and get the lights back on. She ran up to Peter as if she was going to hug him, but came to a screeching halt when she saw that he was still covered in ooze. 

“Oh, ew. Are you ok?”

“I'm fine.”

“No he's not. He thought I was his _dad_ , can you believe it?”

“I wasn't talking to you back then!”

“Then who were you talking to?”

“I was… This is going to sound weird, but I met my mom. And Yondu. I guess it was a near-death experience or something, but they were there. Unless I was just hallucinating from the Lasher poison, I don't know.” 

“I am Groot.” 

A slender hand found his, and Peter turned to see Mantis standing next to him, her antennas aglow. She tilted her head to the side, and gave him a gentle smile.

“You have found peace. You are still sad, and you still miss them, but it doesn't hurt so much now.” She let go of his hand. “I think it was real. Or, at least, real enough.”

“Real enough sounds good to me. Now let's just get this ship back to the Blivians so we can go and drink our reward, all right?” 

Peter started walking towards the exit, trying to ignore how his legs felt like jelly and his vision still had a rainbow shimmer to it. Gamora wasn't fooled though. She quickly caught up with him and put an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the ooze, and it was just what he needed. 

His parents were gone, but he still had a family, and he wasn't going to pine after what he'd lost when he still had people who needed him alive. And when his time did come… Well, he would face it with a smile, and no regrets, just like his dad.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm singoallala on tumblr feel free to come yell at me about GotG2 there


End file.
